The survey found UK manufacturers were planning to increase recruitment and investment as a result of global demand.
Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Britain’s manufacturers are set to outpace the rest of the economy this year with help from booming global demand for exports, according to a survey showing British firms started the year on a strong note.

According to the manufacturers’ organisation EEF and the accountancy firm BDO, factory output is on course to increase by 2% this year – beating the 1.5% GDP growth forecast for the wider economy.

The survey of 378 firms found two-thirds of manufacturers see the European Union as offering good prospects for growth, with the “next best” markets of Asia and North America seen as supportive by about a quarter of companies.

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The snapshot of the manufacturing sector, which makes up about 10% of the UK economy, showed a balance of +30% of survey respondents reporting an increase in output and total orders for the first three months of 2018. Although that was slightly down from the +34% recorded for the previous quarter, the EEF said it represented a reading above the long-run average in the survey.

Lee Hopley, the chief economist at the EEF, said: “The importance of a buoyant global economy to export-focused manufacturing sectors is again reinforced, with growing overseas demand.”

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The survey showed manufacturers were planning to increase recruitment and investment as a result of the positive global economic condition, though it also warned that firms did not appear keen to invest heavily considering the high level of uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

The reading will prove positive at the start of National Apprenticeship Week in the UK, even though there are fresh doubts that a government target to enlist 3 million new apprentices by 2020 will be met.

A survey of 1,640 business executives by the Chartered Management Institute found almost half do not believe the target will be reached. The government said in response that it was still committed to its targets.